Since I am inclined to believe people are far more likely to be STUPID than malicious, I think it's been a delicate connection of BOTH.
I think they make rash quick decisions which turn out to be bad, and go to great lengths to NEVER ADMIT IT. Hence, lockdowns which in cities often served to SPREAD an airborne virus as people concentrated INDOORS in large buildings where air was being recirculated. Cloth masks and "social distancing" (which really didn't do anything) to silly things like plexiglass shields at registers to directions on floors of stores so aisles were ONE WAY. This served mostly to make people think "we're doing SOMETHING" when it didn't do anything.
Yet people would be chastised for not following the tiniest of rules, however absurd. A man rowing at a lake; another, walking on a deserted beach. People who could NEVER pass the virus being grabbed by POLICE for not following a decision by the governor (not a law). Masking going IN to a restaurant but not while seated.
All the while, those on the left in charge and their devoted fans ENRAGED that anyone would disobey and entirely blaming the spread of a virus on THOSE miscreants while giving a pass to the ones who created the damned thing in the first place.
They blame those who don't obey, even when it is pointed out to them that their LEADERS aren't obeying, either.
I agree wholeheartedly with this post except for this:
I am inclined to believe people are far more likely to be STUPID than malicious
I want to argue with you about that until you agree with me that people, especially higher up in the status chain, are malicious nasty little sh*ts who are not stupid.
Sam, I have personally seen a great many people be malicious just for the sake of it. No reason for it, and it would have been easier for them to be kind or cooperative. They actually had to put forth effort to be mean; sometimes a great deal of effort. And these are regular everyday people that I know personally, and some of whom you know personally.
About 2 decades ago Larry's brother (a malicious little prick) was talking about his condo's HOA, and he said, "Power unexercised is power wasted." That was such a simple, yet profound, statement that it stuck with me all these years. When a Gretchen Whitmer or a London Breed finally gets some power, they do not want to waste that chit - they want to exercise it. They want to wield that sword, baby. Lop off some heads. Covid gave them the perfect opportunity to do just that and it wasn't stupidity - it was pure malice. "Take that, you trailer park mofos. Who's the boss now?"
The higher someone is on the status/power chain, the more likely they are to be power-hungry tyrant who isn't stupid by any means. When they exercise their power in detrimental ways, it's not because they're stupid - it's because they're malevolent in their soul and now have the power to exercise it.
So while your car mechanic who put the bolt on wrong probably just made an unintentional mistake, the Governor or Mayor who shuts down family businesses, won't allow you to see your dying grandmother, and forces your children into isolation is a malicious dick who has just been waiting for the chance to flex. And unfortunately you see a lot of those types in positions of authority because that's what they've always aspired to - the opportunity to have power and exercise it. Certainly we've all seen this in the workplace.
And I have to run but one last thought:
That store clerk who is being balky and petty to the point you want to choke her out? She's not that way because she's stupid; she's that way because she's malicious and perceives herself to have power over you. Once you set that bitch straight she'll be nice as pie.
